The years of the life of Emperor Alexander 2. Alexander II - biography, information, personal life. The main provisions of the peasant reform

Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from the Romanov dynasty

Alexander II

short biography

Alexander II Nikolaevich(April 29, 1818, Moscow - March 13, 1881, St. Petersburg) - Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland (1855-1881) from the Romanov dynasty. The eldest son, first of the grand-ducal, and since 1825 of the imperial couple, Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna.

He went down in Russian history as a conductor of large-scale reforms. Awarded with a special epithet in Russian pre-revolutionary and Bulgarian historiography - Liberator(in connection with the abolition of serfdom according to the manifesto on February 19 (March 3), 1861 and the victory in the Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878), respectively). He died as a result of a terrorist act organized by the secret revolutionary organization Narodnaya Volya.

Childhood, education and upbringing

He was born on April 29, 1818 at 11 am in the Nikolaevsky Palace of the Moscow Kremlin, where the entire imperial family arrived in early April for fasting and Easter. Since the older brothers of Nikolai Pavlovich had no sons, the baby was already perceived as a potential heir to the throne. On the occasion of his birth in Moscow, a salute of 201 cannon salvos was given. On May 5, Charlotte Lieven brought the baby to the Cathedral of the Chudov Monastery, where the Moscow Archbishop Augustine performed the sacraments of baptism and chrismation on the baby, in honor of which Maria Feodorovna gave a gala dinner. Alexander is the only native of Moscow who has been at the head of Russia since 1725.

He was educated at home under the personal supervision of his parent, who paid special attention to the education of the heir. The first persons under Alexander were: since 1825 - Colonel K. K. Merder, since 1827 - Adjutant General P. P. Ushakov, since 1834 - Adjutant General Kh. A. Liven. Court adviser V. A. Zhukovsky was appointed mentor (with the duty to manage the entire process of upbringing and education and the assignment to draw up a “learning plan”) and teacher of the Russian language in 1825.

Archpriests G. P. Pavsky and V. B. Bazhanov (God’s Law), M. M. Speransky (legislation), K. I. Arseniev (statistics and history), E. F. Kankrin (finances) took part in the training of Alexander , F. I. Brunnov (foreign policy), E. D. Collins (physical and mathematical sciences), K. B. Trinius (natural history), G. I. Hess (technology and chemistry). Alexander also studied military sciences; English, French and German, drawing; fencing and other disciplines.

According to numerous testimonies, in his youth he was very impressionable and amorous. So, during a trip to London in 1839, he had a fleeting crush on the young Queen Victoria (later, as monarchs, they experienced mutual hostility and enmity).

Until September 3 (15), 1831, he had the title of "Imperial Highness Grand Duke". From that date, he was officially called "The Sovereign Heir, Tsarevich and Grand Duke."

Beginning of state activity

On April 17 (29), 1834, Alexander Nikolayevich turned sixteen years old. Since this day fell on the Tuesday of Holy Week, the celebration of the proclamation of the age of majority and the taking of the oath was postponed until the Bright Resurrection of Christ. Nicholas I instructed Speransky to prepare his son for this important act, explaining to him the meaning and significance of the oath. On April 22 (May 4), 1834, the swearing-in of Tsarevich Alexander took place in the large church of the Winter Palace. After taking the oath, Tsesarevich was introduced by his father to the main state institutions of the empire: in 1834 to the Senate, in 1835 he was introduced to the Holy Governing Synod, from 1841 a member of the State Council, from 1842 - the Committee of Ministers.

In 1837, Alexander made a long trip across Russia and visited 29 provinces of the European part, Transcaucasia and Western Siberia, and in 1838-1839 he visited Europe. In these travels, he was accompanied by fellow students and adjutants of the sovereign A. V. Patkul and, in part, I. M. Vielgorsky.

The military service of the future emperor was quite successful. In 1836, he already became a major general, from 1844 a full general, commanded the guards infantry. Since 1849, Alexander was the head of military educational institutions, chairman of the Secret Committees on Peasant Affairs in 1846 and 1848. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, with the announcement of the St. Petersburg province under martial law, he commanded all the troops of the capital.

The Tsarevich had the rank of Adjutant General, was a member of the General Staff of His Imperial Majesty, was the ataman of all Cossack troops; was listed as part of a number of elite regiments, including the Cavalier Guard, the Life Guards of the Cavalry, Cuirassier, Preobrazhensky, Semenovsky, Izmailovsky. He was Chancellor of Alexander University, Doctor of Laws of Oxford University, honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy, Society for the Encouragement of Artists, St. Petersburg University.

Reign of Alexander II

sovereign title

Large title: “By God's hastening mercy, We, Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kyiv, Vladimir, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Chersonis, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volyn , Podolsky and Finland, Prince of Estonia, Lifland, Courland and Semigalsky, Samogitsky, Bialystok, Korelsky, Tver, Yugorsky, Perm, Vyatsky, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novgorod Nizovsky lands, Chernigov, Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Beloozersky, Udora, Obdorsky, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav and all Northern countries, Sovereign and Sovereign of Iversky, Kartalinsky, Georgian and Kabardian lands and Armenian regions, Cherkasy and Mountain Princes and other hereditary Sovereign and Possessor, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarsen and Oldenburg and others, and others, and others.
Abbreviated title: "By God's hastening mercy, We, Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Tsar of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, and so on, and so on, and so on."

The country faced a number of complex domestic and foreign policy issues (peasant, eastern, Polish and others); finances were extremely upset by the unsuccessful Crimean War, during which Russia found itself in complete international isolation.

Having ascended the throne on the day of the death of his father on February 18 (March 2), 1855, Alexander II issued a manifesto that read:<…>Before the face of God, who is invisibly co-present with US, let us accept the sacred vow to always have the welfare of OUR Fatherland as a single goal. Yes, guided, patronized by the Providence that called US to this great service, let us establish Russia at the highest level of power and glory, may the constant desires and views of OUR August predecessors PETER, CATHERINE, ALEXANDER Blessed and Unforgettable OUR Parent be fulfilled through US.<…>"
Signed on the original by His Imperial Majesty's own hand ALEXANDER

According to the journal of the State Council for February 19 (March 3), 1855, in his first speech to the members of the Council, the new emperor said, in particular: “<…>My unforgettable Parent loved Russia and all his life he constantly thought about its only benefit.<…>In His constant and daily labors with Me, He told Me: “I want to take for Myself everything that is unpleasant and difficult, if only to give You Russia arranged, happy and calm.” Providence judged otherwise, and the late Sovereign, in the last hours of his life, said to me: “I hand over to you my command, but, unfortunately, not in the order I wished, leaving you a lot of work and worries.”

The first of the important steps was the conclusion of the Peace of Paris in March 1856 - on conditions that were not the worst in the current situation (in England, the mood was strong to continue the war until the complete defeat and dismemberment of the Russian Empire).

In the spring of 1856 he visited Helsingfors (Grand Duchy of Finland), where he spoke at the university and the Senate, then Warsaw, where he called on the local nobility to “leave dreams” (French pas de rêveries), and Berlin, where he had a very important meeting for him with the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV (his mother's brother), with whom he secretly sealed a "dual alliance", thus breaking through the foreign policy blockade of Russia.

A “thaw” began in the socio-political life of the country. On the occasion of the coronation, which took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin on August 26 (September 7), 1856 (the priesthood was headed by Metropolitan Filaret of Moscow (Drozdov); the emperor sat on the throne of Tsar Ivan III from ivory), the Supreme Manifesto granted benefits and indulgences to a number of categories of subjects, in particular, to the Decembrists, Petrashevists, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831; recruiting was suspended for 3 years; in 1857 military settlements were liquidated.

Great Reforms

The reign of Alexander II was marked by reforms of unprecedented scale, which received the name "great reforms" in pre-revolutionary literature. The main ones are the following:

Liquidation of military settlements (1857)
Abolition of serfdom (1861)
Financial reform (1863)
Reform higher education (1863)
Zemstvo and Judicial reforms (1864)
City government reform (1870)
Reform of secondary education (1871)
Military reform (1874)

These transformations solved a number of long-standing socio-economic problems, cleared the way for the development of capitalism in Russia, expanded the boundaries of civil society and the rule of law, but were not brought to the end.

By the end of the reign of Alexander II, under the influence of conservatives, some reforms (judicial, zemstvo) were limited. The counter-reforms launched by his successor Alexander III also affected the provisions of the peasant reform and the reform of city self-government.

National politics

A new Polish national liberation uprising on the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Right-Bank Ukraine broke out on January 22 (February 3), 1863. In addition to the Poles, there were many Belarusians and Lithuanians among the rebels. By May 1864, the uprising was crushed by Russian troops. 128 people were executed for their involvement in the uprising; 12,500 were sent to other areas (some of them subsequently raised the Circum-Baikal uprising of 1866), 800 were sent to hard labor.

The uprising accelerated the implementation of the peasant reform in the regions affected by it, and at the same time on more favorable terms for the peasants than in the rest of Russia. The authorities took measures to develop primary schools in Lithuania and Belarus, hoping that the education of the peasantry in the Russian Orthodox spirit would lead to a political and cultural reorientation of the population. Measures were also taken to Russify Poland. In order to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church on the social life of Poland after the uprising, the tsarist government decided to convert the Ukrainians of the Kholmshchyna belonging to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to Orthodoxy. At times, these actions met with resistance. The inhabitants of Pratulin village refused. On January 24 (February 5), 1874, believers gathered near the parish church to prevent the transfer of the temple under control Orthodox Church. After that, a detachment of soldiers opened fire on people. 13 people died, who were canonized by the Catholic Church as Pratulin martyrs.

At the height of the January Uprising, the emperor approved the secret Valuev circular on the suspension of the printing of religious, educational and educational literature in the Ukrainian language. initial reading. Censorship allowed "only such works in this language that belong to the field of fine literature." In 1876, the Ems Decree followed, aimed at restricting the use and teaching Ukrainian language in the Russian Empire.

After the uprising of a part of the Polish society, which did not receive significant support from the Lithuanians and Latvians (in Courland and the partially Polonized regions of Latgale), certain measures were taken to patronize the ethno-cultural development of these peoples.

There was an eviction to the Ottoman Empire of a part of the North Caucasian tribes (mainly Circassians) from the Black Sea coast, numbering several hundred thousand people in 1863-67. as soon as the Caucasian war ended.

Under Alexander II, there were significant changes in relation to the Jewish Pale of Settlement. In a number of decrees issued between 1859 and 1880, a significant part of the Jews received the right to freely settle on the territory of Russia. As A. I. Solzhenitsyn writes, merchants, artisans, doctors, lawyers, university graduates, their families and service personnel, as well as, for example, “persons of free professions”, received the right to free settlement. And in 1880, by decree of the Minister of the Interior, it was allowed to leave for residence outside the Pale of Settlement those Jews who settled illegally.

autocracy reform

At the end of the reign of Alexander II, a project was drawn up to create two bodies under the tsar - the expansion of the already existing State Council (which included mainly large nobles and officials) and the creation of a "General Commission" (congress) with the possible participation of representatives from the zemstvos, but mainly formed "according to appointment" of the government. It was not about a constitutional monarchy, in which the supreme body is a democratically elected parliament (which did not exist in Russia and was not planned), but about a possible limitation of autocratic power in favor of bodies with limited representation (although it was assumed that at the first stage they would be purely deliberative). ). The authors of this "constitutional project" were the Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov, who received emergency powers at the end of the reign of Alexander II, as well as the Minister of Finance Abaza and the Minister of War Milyutin. Alexander II, shortly before his death, approved this plan, but they did not have time to discuss it at the Council of Ministers, and a discussion was scheduled for March 4 (16), 1881, with subsequent entry into force (which did not take place due to the assassination of the king).

The discussion of this draft reform of the autocracy took place already under Alexander III, on March 8 (20), 1881. Although the overwhelming majority of ministers spoke in favor, Alexander III accepted the point of view of Count Stroganov (“power will pass from the hands of an autocratic monarch ... into the hands of various varmints who think ... only about their own personal gain”) and K. P. Pobedonostsev (“we need to think not about establishing a new talking shop, ... but about business”) . The final decision was enshrined in a special Manifesto on the inviolability of the autocracy, the draft of which was prepared by Pobedonostsev.

Economic development of the country

From the beginning of the 1860s, an economic crisis began in the country, which a number of economic historians associate with the refusal of Alexander II from industrial protectionism and the transition to a liberal policy in foreign trade (at the same time, historian P. Bairoch sees one of the reasons for the transition to this policy in the defeat of Russia in Crimean War). The liberal policy in foreign trade continued even after the introduction of the new customs tariff of 1868. So, it was calculated that, compared with 1841, import duties in 1868 decreased on average by more than 10 times, and for some types of imports - even 20-40 times.

Evidence of the slow industrial growth during this period is the production of pig iron, the increase of which only slightly outpaced the growth of the population and noticeably lagged behind the indicators of other countries. , despite the rapid progress in other countries (USA, Western Europe), and the situation in this most important sector of the Russian economy also only worsened.

The only industry that developed rapidly was rail transport: a network railways in the country grew rapidly, which also stimulated its own locomotive and wagon building. However, the development of railways was accompanied by many abuses and the deterioration of the financial situation of the state. Thus, the state guaranteed the established private railway companies full coverage of their expenses and also the maintenance of a guaranteed rate of return through subsidies. The result was huge budget spending to maintain private companies.

Foreign policy

In the reign of Alexander II, Russia returned to the policy of the all-round expansion of the Russian Empire, previously characteristic of the reign of Catherine II. During this period, Central Asia, the North Caucasus, Far East, Bessarabia, Batumi. Victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. The advance to Central Asia ended successfully (in 1865-1881, most of Turkestan became part of Russia). In 1871, thanks to A. M. Gorchakov, Russia restored its rights to the Black Sea, having achieved the abolition of the ban on keeping its fleet there. In connection with the war in 1877, a major uprising took place in Chechnya and Dagestan, which was brutally suppressed.

After a long resistance, the emperor decided to go to war with the Ottoman Empire in 1877-1878. As a result of the war, he accepted the rank of Field Marshal (April 30 (May 12), 1878).

The meaning of the annexation of some new territories, in particular Central Asia, was incomprehensible to part of Russian society. Thus, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin criticized the behavior of generals and officials who used the Central Asian war for personal enrichment, and M.N. Pokrovsky pointed out the senselessness of the conquest of Central Asia for Russia. Meanwhile, this conquest resulted in great human losses and material costs.

In 1876-1877, Alexander II took a personal part in the conclusion of a secret agreement with Austria in connection with the Russian-Turkish war, which, according to some historians and diplomats of the second half of XIX century, became the Berlin Treaty (1878), which entered the national historiography as "flawed" in relation to the self-determination of the Balkan peoples (significantly curtailed the Bulgarian state and transferred Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austria). The criticism of contemporaries and historians was caused by examples of the unsuccessful "behavior" of the emperor and his brothers (grand dukes) in the theater of war.

In 1867 Alaska (Russian America) was sold to the United States for $7.2 million. In addition, he signed the St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875, according to which he transferred all the Kuril Islands to Japan in exchange for Sakhalin. Both Alaska and the Kuril Islands were remote overseas possessions, unprofitable from an economic point of view. In addition, they were difficult to defend. The concession for twenty years ensured the neutrality of the United States and the Empire of Japan in relation to the actions of Russia in the Far East and made it possible to release the necessary forces to secure more habitable territories.

"Attack by surprise." Painting by V. V. Vereshchagin, 1871

In 1858, Russia signed the Aigun Treaty with China, and in 1860, the Beijing Treaty, under which Russia received vast territories of Transbaikalia, Khabarovsk Territory, a significant part of Manchuria, including Primorye ("Ussuri Territory").

In 1859, representatives of Russia founded the Palestine Committee, which was later transformed into the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (IOPS), and in 1861 the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Japan arose. To expand missionary activity, on June 29 (July 11), 1872, the department of the Aleutian diocese was transferred to San Francisco (California) and the diocese began to extend its care to the whole of North America.

He refused the annexation and Russian colonization of the northeastern coast of Papua New Guinea, to which Alexander II was called upon by the famous Russian traveler and explorer N. N. Miklukho-Maclay. Australia and Germany took advantage of Alexander II's indecision in this matter, soon dividing the "ownerless" territories of New Guinea and adjacent islands among themselves.

The Soviet historian P. A. Zayonchkovsky believed that the government of Alexander II pursued a “Germanophile policy” that did not meet the interests of the country, which was facilitated by the position of the monarch himself: “Revering for his uncle, the Prussian king, and later the German emperor Wilhelm I, he did his best to promote education united militaristic Germany. During Franco-Prussian War 1870, "St. George's crosses were generously distributed to German officers, and the signs of the order to soldiers, as if they were fighting for the interests of Russia."

Results of the Greek plebiscite

In 1862, after the overthrow in Greece as a result of an uprising reigning king Otto I (of the Wittelsbach family), the Greeks held a plebiscite at the end of the year to choose a new monarch. There were no ballots with candidates, so any Greek citizen could propose his candidacy or type of government in the country. The results were made public in February 1863.

Among those entered by the Greeks was Alexander II, who came in third with less than 1 percent of the vote. However, representatives of the Russian, British and French royal houses could not occupy the Greek throne, according to the London Conference of 1832.

Growing public discontent

Unlike the previous reign, which was almost not marked by social protests, the era of Alexander II was characterized by an increase in public discontent. Along with a sharp increase in the number peasant uprisings, many protest groups appeared among the intelligentsia and workers. In the 1860s, a group of S. Nechaev, a circle of Zaichnevsky, a circle of Olshevsky, a circle of Ishutin, an organization of Land and Freedom, a group of officers and students (Ivanitsky and others) arose, preparing a peasant uprising. In the same period, the first revolutionaries appeared (Pyotr Tkachev, Sergey Nechaev), who propagated the ideology of terrorism as a method of fighting power. In 1866, the first attempt was made to assassinate Alexander II, who was shot by D. Karakozov.

In the 1870s, these trends increased significantly. This period includes such protest groups and movements as the circle of Kursk Jacobins, the circle of Chaikovites, the circle of Perovskaya, the circle of Dolgushinites, the groups of Lavrov and Bakunin, the circles of Dyakov, Siryakov, Semyanovsky, the South Russian Union of Workers, the Kyiv Commune, the Northern Workers Union, the new organization Land and Will and a number of others. Most of these circles and groups until the end of the 1870s. engaged in anti-government propaganda and agitation, only from the end of the 1870s. begins a clear tilt towards terrorist acts. In 1873-1874. 2-3 thousand people, mostly from among the intelligentsia, went to the countryside under the guise of ordinary people with the aim of propagating revolutionary ideas (the so-called "going to the people").

After the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863-1864 and the attempt on his life by D. V. Karakozov on April 4 (16), 1866, Alexander II made concessions to the protective course, expressed in the appointment of Dmitry Tolstoy, Fyodor Trepov, Pyotr Shuvalov to the highest government posts, which led to a tightening of measures in the field of domestic policy.

The intensification of repressions by the police, especially in relation to “going to the people” (the trial of one hundred and ninety-three populists), caused public outrage and marked the beginning of terrorist activities, which subsequently assumed a massive character. Thus, the assassination attempt by Vera Zasulich in 1878 on the St. Petersburg mayor Trepov was undertaken in response to the mistreatment of prisoners in the “trial of one hundred and ninety-three”. Despite the irrefutable evidence that testified to the committed attempt, the jury acquitted her, she received a standing ovation in the courtroom, and on the street she was greeted by an enthusiastic demonstration gathered outside the courthouse large mass public.

Alexander II. Photo taken between 1878 and 1881

During the following years, assassination attempts were organized:

1878: to the Kyiv prosecutor Kotlyarevsky, to the gendarmerie officer Geiking in Kyiv, to the chief of the gendarmes Mezentsev in St. Petersburg;
1879: on the Kharkov governor Prince Kropotkin, on the police agent Reinstein in Moscow, on the chief of the gendarmes Drenteln in St. Petersburg
February 1880: an attempt was made on the "dictator" Loris-Melikov.
1878-1881: there was a series of assassination attempts on Alexander II.

Towards the end of his reign, protest moods spread among different sections of society, including the intelligentsia, part of the nobility and the army. A new upsurge of peasant uprisings began in the countryside, and a mass strike movement began in the factories. Prime Minister P. A. Valuev, giving general characteristics moods in the country, wrote in 1879: “In general, in all segments of the population, some kind of indefinite displeasure is manifested, which has seized everyone. Everyone complains about something and seems to want and wait for a change.

The public applauded the terrorists, the number of terrorist organizations themselves grew - for example, Narodnaya Volya, which sentenced the tsar to death, had hundreds of active members. Hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. and the war in Central Asia, the commander-in-chief of the Turkestan army, General Mikhail Skobelev, at the end of Alexander's reign, showed strong dissatisfaction with his policy and even, according to the testimony of A. Koni and P. Kropotkin, expressed his intention to arrest royal family. These and other facts gave rise to the version that Skobelev was preparing a military coup to overthrow the Romanovs.

According to the historian P. A. Zayonchkovsky, the growth of protest moods and the explosion of terrorist activity caused “fear and confusion” in government circles. As one of his contemporaries, A. Planson, wrote, “Only during an armed uprising that has already flared up is there such a panic that seized everyone in Russia in the late 70s and 80s. In all of Russia, everyone fell silent in clubs, in hotels, on the streets and in the markets ... And both in the provinces and in St. Petersburg, everyone was waiting for something unknown, but terrible, no one was sure of the future.

As historians point out, against the background of the growth of political and social instability the government took more and more emergency measures: first, military courts were introduced, then, in April 1879, temporary governors-general were appointed in a number of cities, and finally, in February 1880, the “dictatorship” of Loris-Melikov was introduced ( who was given emergency powers), which remained until the end of the reign of Alexander II - first in the form of the chairman of the Supreme Administrative Commission, then - in the form of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the actual head of government.

The emperor himself last years life was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Chairman of the Committee of Ministers P. A. Valuev wrote in his diary on June 3 (15), 1879: “The sovereign looks tired and himself spoke of nervous irritation, which he intensifies to hide. Crowned ruin. In an era where strength is needed in it, obviously, it cannot be counted on.

Assassination attempts and murder

History of failed assassination attempts

Several assassination attempts were made on Alexander II:

D. V. Karakozov April 4 (16), 1866. When Alexander II was heading from the gates of the Summer Garden to his carriage, a shot rang out. The bullet flew over the head of the emperor: the shooter was pushed by a peasant, Osip Komissarov, who was standing nearby.

The gendarmes and some of the eyewitnesses rushed at the shooter and knocked him down. "Guys! I shot for you!" shouted the terrorist.
Alexander ordered to take him to the carriage and asked: - Are you a Pole? - Russian - answered the terrorist. - Why did you shoot me? - You deceived the people: you promised them land, but did not give it. “Take him to the Third Section,” said Alexander, and the shooter, along with the one who seemed to have prevented him from hitting the king, was taken to the gendarmes. The shooter identified himself as a peasant, Aleksey Petrov, and the other detainee, Osip Komissarov, a St. Petersburg kartuznik who came from the peasantry of the Kostroma province. It so happened that among the noble witnesses was the hero of Sevastopol, General E. I. Totleben, and he declared that he clearly saw how Komissarov pushed the terrorist and thereby saved the life of the sovereign.

The assassination attempt on May 25, 1867 was committed by the Polish emigrant Anton Berezovsky in Paris; the bullet hit the horse.
A. K. Solovyov April 2 (14), 1879 in St. Petersburg. Solovyov fired 5 shots from a revolver, including 4 at the emperor.

On August 26 (September 7), 1879, the Executive Committee of the People's Will decided to assassinate Alexander II.

November 19 (December 1), 1879, there was an attempt to blow up the imperial train near Moscow. The emperor was saved by the fact that the steam locomotive of the retinue train broke down in Kharkov, which ran half an hour earlier than the royal one. The king did not want to wait and went first royal train. Not knowing about this circumstance, the terrorists let the first train through, blowing up a mine under the fourth car of the second.
On February 5 (17), 1880, S. N. Khalturin carried out an explosion on the first floor of the Winter Palace. The emperor dined on the third floor, he was saved by the fact that he arrived later than the appointed time, the guards (11 people) on the second floor died.

For the protection of public order and the fight against revolutionary movement On February 12 (24), 1880, the Supreme Administrative Commission was established, headed by the liberal-minded Count Loris-Melikov.

Death and burial. Society reaction

... An explosion struck
From Catherine's channel,
Covering Russia with a cloud.
Everything predicted from afar
That the hour will be fatal,
What will such a card fall ...
And this century is the hour of the day -
The last one is named the first of March.
Alexander Blok, "Retribution"

On March 1 (13), 1881, at 3:35 pm, he died in the Winter Palace as a result of a mortal wound received on the embankment of the Catherine Canal (Petersburg) at about 2:25 pm on the same day - from a bomb explosion (the second during the assassination attempt ), thrown under his feet by the People's Will Ignaty Grinevitsky; died on the day he intended to approve constitutional draft M. T. Loris-Melikova. The assassination attempt took place when the emperor was returning after a military divorce in the Mikhailovsky Manege, from “tea” (second breakfast) in the Mikhailovsky Palace with Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna; tea was also attended by Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, who left a little later, having heard the explosion, and arrived shortly after the second explosion, gave orders and orders at the scene. The day before, February 28 (March 12), 1881 - (on Saturday of the first week of Great Lent), the emperor in the Small Church of the Winter Palace, along with some other family members, communed the Holy Mysteries.

On March 4, his body was transferred to the Court Cathedral of the Winter Palace; March 7 solemnly transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The funeral service on March 15 was led by Metropolitan Isidor (Nikolsky) of St. Petersburg, co-served by other members of the Holy Synod and a host of clergy.

The death of the "Liberator", who was killed by the Narodnaya Volya on behalf of the "liberated", seemed to many a symbolic end to his reign, which led, from the point of view of the conservative part of society, to rampant "nihilism"; particular indignation was caused by the conciliatory policy of Count Loris-Melikov, who was regarded as a puppet in the hands of Princess Yuryevskaya. Political figures of the right wing (including Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Yevgeny Feoktistov and Konstantin Leontiev) even said with more or less frankness that the emperor died “on time”: if he reigned for another year or two, the catastrophe of Russia (the collapse of the autocracy) would become inevitable.

Shortly before that, K. P. Pobedonostsev, who had been appointed chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, wrote to the new emperor on the very day of the death of Alexander II: “God ordered us to survive this terrible day. It is as if God's punishment fell on unfortunate Russia. I would like to hide my face, go underground, so as not to see, not to feel, not to experience. God have mercy on us.<…>».

The rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Archpriest John Yanyshev, on March 2 (14), 1881, before a memorial service in St. Isaac's Cathedral, said in his speech: “<…>The Sovereign not only died, but was also killed in His own capital ... the martyr's crown for His sacred Head is woven on Russian soil, among His subjects ... This is what makes our sorrow unbearable, the disease of the Russian and Christian heart - incurable, our immeasurable disaster - our own eternal disgrace!

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who at a young age was at the bedside of the dying emperor and whose father was in the Mikhailovsky Palace on the day of the assassination attempt, wrote in his emigrant memoirs about his feelings in the days that followed:<…>At night, sitting on our beds, we continued to discuss the disaster of last Sunday and asked each other what will happen next? The image of the late Sovereign, bent over the body of a wounded Cossack and not thinking about the possibility of a second attempt, did not leave us. We understood that something immeasurably greater than our loving uncle and courageous monarch had irretrievably gone with him into the past. Idyllic Russia with the Tsar-Father and his loyal people ceased to exist on March 1, 1881. We understood that the Russian Tsar would never again be able to treat his subjects with boundless trust. He will not be able, forgetting regicide, to devote himself entirely to public affairs. The romantic traditions of the past and the idealistic understanding of the Russian autocracy in the spirit of the Slavophiles - all this will be buried, together with the murdered emperor, in the crypt of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Last Sunday's explosion dealt a mortal blow to the old principles, and no one could deny that the future not only of the Russian Empire, but of the whole world, now depended on the outcome of the inevitable struggle between the new Russian Tsar and the elements of denial and destruction.

The editorial of the Special Supplement to the right-wing conservative newspaper "Rus" dated March 4 read: "The Tsar has been killed! ... Russian the tsar, in his own Russia, in his capital, brutally, barbarously, in front of everyone - by the Russian hand ...<…>Shame, shame on our country!<…>May the burning pain of shame and grief penetrate our land from end to end, and let every soul tremble in it with horror, sorrow, and the wrath of indignation!<…>That scum, which so impudently, so brazenly oppresses the soul of the entire Russian people with crimes, is not the offspring of our very simple people, nor their antiquity, nor even the truly enlightened newness, but the product of the dark sides of the Petersburg period of our history, apostasy from the Russian people, treason its traditions, beginnings and ideals<…>».

At an emergency meeting of the Moscow City Duma, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: “An unheard-of and terrifying event has taken place: the Russian Tsar, the liberator of peoples, fell victim to a gang of villains among the many millions of people selflessly devoted to him. Several people, the offspring of darkness and sedition, dared with a blasphemous hand to encroach on the age-old tradition of the great land, to tarnish its history, the banner of which is the Russian Tsar. The Russian people shuddered with indignation and anger at the news of the terrible event.<…>».

In No. 65 (March 8 (20), 1881) of the semi-official newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti, a "hot and frank article" was published, which caused "a stir in the St. Petersburg press." The article, in particular, said: “Petersburg, standing on the outskirts of the state, is teeming with foreign elements. Here both foreigners, thirsting for the disintegration of Russia, and leaders of our outskirts have built a nest for themselves.<…>[Petersburg] is full of our bureaucracy, which has long lost its sense of the people's pulse<…>That is why in Petersburg you can meet a lot of people, apparently Russians, but who argue as enemies of their homeland, as traitors to their people.<…>».

The anti-monarchist representative of the left wing of the Cadets, V.P. Obninsky, in his work “The Last Autocrat” (1912 or later) wrote about regicide: “This act deeply stirred up society and the people. For the murdered sovereign, too outstanding merits were listed for his death to pass without a reflex on the part of the population. And such a reflex could only be a desire for a reaction.

At the same time, the executive committee of Narodnaya Volya, a few days after March 1, published a letter in which, along with a statement of the “enforcement of the sentence” to the tsar, contained an “ultimatum” to the new tsar, Alexander III: “If the policy of the government does not change, revolution will be inevitable. The government must express the will of the people, and it is a usurper gang.” A similar statement, which became known to the public, was made by the arrested leader of the "Narodnaya Volya" A. I. Zhelyabov during interrogation on March 2. Despite the arrest and execution of all the leaders of the "Narodnaya Volya", terrorist acts continued in the first 2-3 years of the reign of Alexander III.

In the same days of early March, the newspapers Strana and Golos received a “warning” from the government for leading articles “explaining the heinous atrocity of the last days by the system of reaction and as laying responsibility for the misfortune that befell Russia on those of the tsar’s advisers who led the measures of reaction ". In the following days, at the initiative of Loris-Melikov, the newspapers Molva, St. Petersburg Vedomosti, Order and Smolensky Vestnik were closed, which published articles that were “harmful” from the point of view of the government.

In his memoirs, the Azerbaijani satirist and educator Jalil Mammadguluzade, who was a schoolboy at the time of the death of Alexander II, described the reaction of the local population to the assassination of the emperor as follows:

We were allowed to go home. The market and shops were closed. The people were gathered in a mosque, and a forced memorial service was performed there. The mullah climbed the minber and began to paint the merits and merits of the murdered padishah in such a way that in the end he himself burst into tears and caused tears in the worshipers. Then the marsiya was read, and grief for the mortified padishah merged with grief for the imam - the great martyr, and the mosque resounded with heartbreaking cries.

Cornet of the Guard (17 (29) April 1825)
Second lieutenant of the guard "for success in the sciences, rendered at the exam in the presence of Their Majesties" (January 7 (19), 1827)
Lieutenant of the Guard "for distinction in service" (July 1 (13), 1830)
Staff Captain of the Guard "for success in the sciences, rendered at the exam in the presence of Their Majesties" (May 13 (25), 1831)
Adjutant Wing (April 17 (29), 1834)
Colonel (November 10 (22), 1834)
Major General of the Retinue (December 6 (18), 1836)
Lieutenant General of the Suite "for distinction in service" (December 6 (18), 1840)
Adjutant General (April 17 (29), 1843)
General of Infantry (April 17 (29), 1847)
Field Marshal "at the request of the army" (April 30 (May 12), 1878)
Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called (5 (17) May 1818)
Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (5 (17) May 1818)
Order of St. Anne 1st class (5 (17) May 1818)
Order of the White Eagle (Kingdom of Poland, 12 (24) May 1829)
Insignia "For XV years of service in officer ranks" (April 17 (29), 1849)
Order of St. George 4th class for participation "in the case against the Caucasian highlanders" (November 10 (22), 1850)
Insignia "For XX years of service in officer ranks" (April 4 (16), 1854)
Gold medal "For labors for the liberation of the peasants" (April 17 (29), 1861)
Silver medal "For the conquest of the Western Caucasus" (12 (24) July 1864)
Cross "For Service in the Caucasus" (12 (24) July 1864)
Order of St. Stanislaus 1st class (11 (23) June 1865)
Order of St. George 1st class on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Order (November 26 (December 8), 1869)
Golden saber, brought by officers of His Imperial Majesty's Own Convoy (December 2 (14), 1877)
Order of the Noble Bukhara - the first to be awarded this order (Bukhara Emirate, 1881)

foreign:

Prussian Order of the Black Eagle at baptism (5 (17) May 1818)
French Order of the Holy Spirit (December 13 (25), 1823)
Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece (13 (25) August 1826)
Württemberg Order of the Württemberg Crown 1st class (9 (21) November 1826)
Bavarian Order of St. Hubert (13 (25) April 1829)
Swedish Order of the Seraphim (8 (20) June 1830)
Danish Order of the Elephant (23 April (5 May) 1834)
Netherlands Order of the Netherlands Lion 1st class (December 2 (14), 1834)
Greek Order of the Savior 1st class (8 (20) November 1835)
Gold chain to the Danish Order of the Elephant (June 25 (July 7), 1838)
Hanover Royal Guelph Order (July 18 (30), 1838)
Saxe-Weimar Order of the White Falcon (30 August (11 September) 1838)
Neapolitan Order of Saint Ferdinand and Merits (January 20 (February 1), 1839)
Austrian Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen, Grand Cross (20 February (4 March) 1839)
Baden Order of Fidelity (11 (23) March 1839)
Baden Order of the Zähringen Lion 1st class (11 (23) March 1839)
Hesse-Darmstadt Order of Ludwig 1st class (13 (25) March 1839)
Saxon Order of the Ruth Crown, Grand Cross (March 19 (31), 1840)
Hanoverian Order of St. George (July 3 (15), 1840)
Hesse-Darmstadt Order of Philip the Magnanimous 1st class (December 14 (26), 1843)
Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross (15 (27) May 1845)
Sardinian Supreme Order Holy Annunciation (19 (31) October 1845)
Saxe-Altenburg Order of the Saxe-Ernestine House, Grand Cross (18 (30) June 1847)
Hesse-Kassel Order of the Golden Lion (5 (17) August 1847)
Oldenburg Order of Merit of Duke Peter-Friedrich-Ludwig 1st class (15 (27) October 1847)
Persian Order of the Lion and the Sun, 1st class (7 (19) October 1850)
Württemberg Order "For Military Merit" 3rd class (December 13 (25), 1850)
Parma Constantinian Order of Saint George (1850)
Netherlands Military Order of Wilhelm, Grand Cross (15 (27) September 1855)
Portuguese Triple Order (27 November (9 December) 1855)
Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword (27 November (9 December) 1855)
Brazilian Order of Pedro I (14 (26) February 1856)
Belgian Order of Leopold I 1st class (May 18 (30), 1856)
French Order of the Legion of Honor (July 30 (August 11), 1856)
Prussian bronze medals for 1848 and 1849 (6 (18) August 1857)
Hesse-Kassel Order of the Golden Lion 1st class (May 1 (13), 1858)
Turkish Order of Medzhidie 1st class. (1 (13) February 1860)
Mecklenburg-Schwerin Order of the Wendish Crown on a gold chain (June 21 (July 3), 1864)
Mexican Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle (6 (18) March 1865)
British Order of the Garter (16 (28) July 1867)
Prussian Order "Pour le Mérite" (November 26 (December 8), 1869)
Turkish order Osmaniye 1st class. (May 25 (June 6), 1871)
Golden Oak Leaves to the Prussian Order "Pour le Mérite" (November 27 (December 9), 1871)
Order of Saint Charles of Monaco, Grand Cross (July 3 (15), 1873)
Austrian Gold Cross for 25 years of service (February 2 (14), 1874)
Austrian bronze medal (7 (19) February 1874)
Chain to the Swedish Order of the Seraphim (July 3 (15), 1875)
Austrian Military Order of Maria Theresa 3rd class (November 25 (December 7) 1875)
Montenegrin Order of Saint Peter of Cetinje

The results of the reign

Alexander II went down in history as a reformer and liberator. In his reign, serfdom was abolished, universal conscription, zemstvos were established, judicial reform, censorship is limited, a number of other reforms have been carried out. The empire expanded significantly due to the conquest and inclusion of the Central Asian possessions, the North Caucasus, the Far East and other territories.

At the same time, the country's economic situation worsened: industry was struck by a protracted depression, and there were several cases of mass starvation in the countryside. The deficit of the foreign trade balance and the state external debt (almost 6 billion rubles) reached a large size, which led to the disorder of money circulation and public finances. The problem of corruption has escalated. A split and sharp social contradictions formed in Russian society, which reached their peak by the end of the reign.

Other negative aspects usually include unfavorable results for Russia Berlin Congress 1878, exorbitant expenses in the war of 1877-1878, numerous peasant uprisings (in 1861-1863: more than 1150 speeches), large-scale nationalist uprisings in the kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Territory (1863) and in the Caucasus (1877-1878).

Estimates of some of the reforms of Alexander II are contradictory. The liberal press called his reforms "great". At the same time, a significant part of the population (part of the intelligentsia), as well as a number of statesmen of that era, negatively assessed these reforms. So, at the first meeting of the government of Alexander III on March 8 (20), 1881, K. P. Pobedonostsev sharply criticized the peasant, zemstvo, and judicial reforms of Alexander II, calling them “criminal reforms,” and Alexander III actually approved his speech . And many contemporaries and a number of historians argued that the actual emancipation of the peasants did not happen (only a mechanism for such emancipation was created, and an unfair one at that); corporal punishment against peasants was not abolished (which persisted until 1904-1905); the establishment of zemstvos led to discrimination against the lower classes; judicial reform failed to prevent the growth of judicial and police arbitrariness. In addition, according to experts on the agrarian issue, the peasant reform of 1861 led to the emergence of serious new problems (landlord cuts, the ruin of the peasants), which became one of the reasons for the future revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

The views of modern historians on the era of Alexander II were subject to drastic changes under the influence of the dominant ideology, and are not well-established. Soviet historiography was dominated by a tendentious view of his reign, which followed from the general nihilistic attitudes towards the "era of tsarism." Modern historians, along with the thesis of the "liberation of the peasants", state that their freedom of movement after the reform was "relative". Calling the reforms of Alexander II "great", they at the same time write that the reforms gave rise to "the deepest socio-economic crisis in the countryside", did not lead to the abolition of corporal punishment for peasants, were not consistent, and economic life in 1860-1870 -s yrs. characterized by industrial recession, rampant speculation and grunderstvo.

Private life

“The sovereign’s hair was cut short and well framed a high and beautiful forehead. The facial features are amazingly regular and seem to have been carved by an artist. Blue eyes stand out especially due to the brown tone of the face, weathered during long journeys. The outline of the mouth is so thin and defined that it resembles Greek sculpture. The expression of the face, majestically calm and soft, from time to time is adorned with a gracious smile "- Theophile Gauthier - about the emperor, 1865.

Compared to other Russian emperors, Alexander II spent a lot of time abroad, mainly at balneological resorts in Germany, which was explained by the empress's unhappy health. It was at one of these resorts, in Ems, that the Marquis de Custine, who was heading to Russia in 1839, met the heir to the throne. In the same place, forty years later, the emperor signed the Emsky Decree, which limited the use of the Ukrainian language. It was Emperor Alexander II who laid the foundation for the favorite summer residence of the last Russian emperors - Livadia. In 1860, the estate was redeemed along with a park, a wine cellar and a vineyard of 19 hectares from the daughters of Count Potocki for the wife of the emperor, Maria Alexandrovna, who suffered from tuberculosis and, on the recommendation of doctors, had to recover from the healing air of the southern coast of Crimea. The court architect I. A. Monighetti was invited to the Crimea and the Big and Small Livadia palaces were rebuilt.

“The Sovereign Emperor took daily walks in the morning - to Oreanda, Koreiz, Gaspra, Alupka, Gurzuf, to the forestry and to the Uchan-Su waterfall - in a carriage or on horseback, swam in the sea, walked. In moments of rest, I listened to the beautiful poems of the poet [P. A.] Vyazemsky, who at that time was still at the Court, and, despite his 75 years, seemed cheerful and impressionable, ”historian and writer Vasily Khristoforovich Kondaraki - about the emperor in the Crimea, 1867.

Alexander II was a particularly passionate hunter. After his accession to the imperial court, bear hunting became fashionable. In 1860, representatives of the ruling houses of Europe were invited to such a hunt in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The trophies obtained by the emperor adorned the walls of the Lisinsky pavilion. In the collection of the Gatchina Arsenal (the armory of the Gatchina Palace) there is a collection of hunting spears with which Alexander II could personally hunt bears, although this was very risky. Under his patronage, in 1862, the Moscow hunting society named after Alexander II was created.

The emperor contributed to the popularization of skating in Russia. This passion swept the St. Petersburg high society after in 1860 Alexander ordered to flood the skating rink near the Mariinsky Palace, where he loved to ride with his daughter in full view of the townspeople.

As of March 1 (13), 1881, the personal capital of Alexander II was about 12 million rubles. (securities, tickets of the State Bank, shares of railway companies); from personal funds, he donated 1 million rubles in 1880. on the construction of a hospital in memory of the Empress.

Alexander II suffered from asthma. According to the memoirs of Princess Yuryevskaya, she always had several pillows with oxygen at hand, which she let Alexander Nikolaevich inhale during attacks of illness.

A family

Alexander was an amorous man. In his youth, he was in love with the maid of honor Borodzina, who was urgently married off, after which there was a connection with the maid of honor Maria Vasilievna Trubetskoy (in her first marriage Stolypina, in the second Vorontsova), who later became the mistress of Alexander Baryatinsky and had a son Nikolai from him. The lady-in-waiting Sofia Davydova was in love with Alexandra, because of this she went to the monastery. When she was already Mother Superior Maria, the eldest son of Alexander Nikolaevich, Nikolai Alexandrovich, saw her during his trip to Russia in the summer of 1863.

Later he fell in love with the maid of honor Olga Kalinovskaya, flirted with Queen Victoria. But, having already chosen the Princess of Hesse as his bride, he again resumed relations with Kalinovskaya and even wanted to abdicate in order to marry her. Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse, who was called before her adoption of Orthodoxy Princess Maximilian Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt. On December 5 (17), 1840, the princess, having accepted chrismation, converted to Orthodoxy and was given a new name - Maria Alexandrovna, and after betrothal to Alexander Nikolayevich on December 6 (18), 1840, she became known as the Grand Duchess with the title of Imperial Highness.

Alexander's mother opposed this marriage due to rumors that the duke's chamberlain was the real father of the princess, but the prince insisted on his own. Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna lived in marriage for almost 40 years, and for many years the marriage was happy. A.F. Tyutcheva calls Maria Alexandrovna "a happy wife and mother, idolized by her father-in-law (Emperor Nicholas I)". The couple had eight children.

Alexandra (1842-1849);
Nicholas (1843-1865);
Alexander III (1845-1894);
Vladimir (1847-1909);
Alexey (1850-1908);
Maria (1853-1920);
Sergei (1857-1905);
Pavel (1860-1919).

But, as the observant Count Sheremetev writes, "it seems to me that the sovereign Alexander Nikolaevich was stuffy with her." The count notes that since the 60s she was surrounded by friends A. Bludova, A. Maltseva, who did not hide their disdain for the emperor and in every possible way contributed to the alienation of the spouses. The king, in turn, was also annoyed by these women, which did not contribute to the rapprochement of the spouses.

After accession to the throne, the emperor began to have favorites, from whom, according to rumors, he had illegitimate children. One of them was the maid of honor Alexandra Sergeevna Dolgorukova, who, according to Sheremetev, “possessed the mind and heart of the sovereign and, like no one else, studied his character.”

In 1866, he became close and began to meet in the Summer Garden with 18-year-old Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), who became the closest and most trusted person for the tsar, eventually she settled in the Winter Palace and gave birth to illegitimate children to the emperor:

His Serene Highness Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913);
Most Serene Princess Olga Alexandrovna Yurievskaya (1873-1925);
Boris (1876-1876), posthumously legalized with the assignment of the surname "Yurievsky";
His Serene Highness Princess Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Yuryevskaya (1878-1959), married to Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky, and later to Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletsky.

After the death of his wife, without waiting for the expiration of a year of mourning, Alexander II entered into a morganatic marriage with Princess Dolgorukova, who received the title Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya. The wedding allowed the emperor to legitimize their common children.

Memory of Alexander II

The memory of the "Tsar-Liberator" was immortalized in many cities of the Russian Empire and Bulgaria by erecting monuments. After the October Revolution, most of them were demolished. The monuments in Sofia and Helsinki have been preserved intact. Individual monuments were recreated after the fall of the communist regime. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built on the site of the emperor's death at the hands of terrorists. There is an extensive filmography. For more information about perpetuating the memory of the monarch, see the article Memory of Alexander II.

As noted in the literature dedicated to the heroes of the historical memory of Russian society, the image of Alexander II changed depending on the social order: “liberator” - “victim” - “serf owner”, but at the same time, which is characteristic, Alexander Nikolayevich almost always spoke (and even today appears) in the information space rather as a "background" figure for the inevitable historical process than as its active figure. This is a striking difference between Alexander II and those historical figures whose image reflects the positive consensus of historical memory (such as Alexander Nevsky or Pyotr Stolypin) or, on the contrary, its conflicting objects (such as Stalin or Ivan the Terrible). The main feature of the emperor's image is constant doubts and indecision.

The head of the government of Alexander II P. A. Valuev: “The sovereign did not have and, however, could not have a clear idea of what was called the “reforms” of his time.”

Fraylina A.F. Tyutcheva: he had "a kind, warm and philanthropic heart ... he had a mind that suffered from a lack of breadth and outlook, and Alexander was also little enlightened ... was not able to grasp the value and importance of the reforms he was consistently implementing" .

Minister of War of Alexander II D. A. Milyutin: was a weak-willed emperor. "The late sovereign was completely in the hands of Princess Yuryevskaya."

According to S.Yu. Witte, who knew Alexander III well, the latter did not approve of his father’s marriage to Princess Yuryevskaya “after the age of 60, when He already had so many fully grown children and even grandchildren,” and considered him weak in character: “In In recent years, when He already had experience, I saw that ... this turmoil, which was at the end of the reign of His Father, ... came from the insufficiently firm character of His Father, thanks to which Emperor Alexander II often hesitated, and finally fell into family sin.

Historian N. A. Rozhkov: “Weak-minded, indecisive, always hesitant, cowardly, limited”; was distinguished by extravagance and "licentiousness of morals."

Historian P. A. Zaionchkovsky: “he was a very ordinary person”; "often consigned to oblivion the national interests of the country he ruled"; “Alexander II did not understand the vital necessity of these reforms for the further development of Russia ... In certain periods of history, there are moments when insignificant people who are not aware of the significance of what is happening are at the head of events. Such was Alexander II.

Historian N. Ya. Eidelman: "he was more limited than his father" (Nicholas I).

“Alexander II embarked on the path of liberation reforms not because of his convictions, but as a military man who realized the lessons of the Crimean War, as an emperor and autocrat, for whom the prestige and greatness of the state were above all. An important role was played by the properties of his character - kindness, cordiality, susceptibility to the ideas of humanism .... Not being a reformer by vocation, by temperament, Alexander II became one in response to the needs of the time as a man of a sober mind and good will.
Historian L. G. Zakharova

Alexander 2 Nikolaevich (born April 17 (29), 1818 - death March 1 (13), 1881) - Russian emperor(since 1855), (). Known in Russian history as Alexander II the Liberator.
The eldest son of Nicholas I. Abolished serfdom and carried out a number of reforms: military (making army service mandatory for everyone, but reducing the time of service from 25 to 6 years), judicial, city, zemstvo, (instructing elected local authorities - "zemstvo" schools, hospitals, etc.)
After the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. moved to a reactionary domestic policy. Since the late 1870s, repression against revolutionaries has intensified. During the reign of Alexander 2, the annexation of the territories of the Caucasus (1864), Kazakhstan (1865), most of the Middle East to Russia was completed. Asia (1865-81) A number of attempts were made on the life of Alexander 2 (1866, 1867, 1879, 1880); killed by the people.

Origin. Upbringing
Alexander 2 Nikolaevich - the eldest son of the first grand-ducal, and since 1825 the imperial couple of Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna (daughter of the King of Prussia Friedrich- Wilhelm III),
He received an excellent education. His main mentor was the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky. He managed to educate the future sovereign as an enlightened person, a reformer, not deprived of artistic taste.
According to many testimonies, in his youth he was quite impressionable and amorous. While in London in 1839, he fell in love with the young Queen Victoria, who would later become for him the most hated ruler in Europe.
State activity
1834 - senator. 1835 - Member of the Holy Synod. 1841 - member of the State Council, since 1842 - the Committee of Ministers. Major General (1836), full general from 1844, commanded the guards infantry. 1849 - head of military educational institutions, chairman of the Secret Committees on Peasant Affairs in 1846 and 1848. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856. with the announcement of the St. Petersburg province in martial law, he commanded all the troops of the capital.
Years of government. Reforms 1860-1870
Neither in youth nor in adulthood Alexander did not adhere to any particular concept in his views on Russian history and tasks government controlled. With the coming to the kingdom in 1855, he received a heavy legacy. None of the cardinal issues of the 30-year reign of his father (peasant, eastern, Polish, etc.) was resolved; Russia was defeated in the Crimean War. Not being a reformer by vocation and temperament, the emperor happened to become one in response to the needs of the time as a man of a sober mind and good will.
His first important decision was the conclusion of the Peace of Paris in March 1856. With the accession to the throne of Alexander, a “thaw” began in the socio-political life of Russia. 1856, August - on the occasion of the coronation, he was declared an amnesty for the Decembrists, Petrashevites, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831, and recruitment was suspended for three years. 1857 - military settlements were liquidated.
Realizing the primary importance of solving the peasant question, he showed a steady will in striving to abolish serfdom for four years (from the establishment of the Secret Committee in 1857 to the adoption of the law on February 19, 1861). Adhering in 1857-1858. “Ostsee version” of the landless liberation of the peasants, by the end of 1858 he agreed to the redemption of allotment land by the peasants for ownership, that is, to the reform program developed by the liberal bureaucracy, together with like-minded people from among public figures (N.A. Milyutin, Ya. I. Rostovtsev, Yu.F. Samarin, V.A. Cherkassky and others). With his support, the following were adopted: Zemstvo Regulations of 1864 and City Regulations of 1870, Judicial Charters of 1864, military reforms of the 1860-1870s, reforms public education, censorship, corporal punishment was abolished.
The emperor was unable to resist the traditional imperial policy. Decisive victories in the Caucasian War were won in the first years of his reign. He succumbed to the demands of advancing to Central Asia (in 1865-1881, most of Turkestan became part of the Empire). After a long resistance, he decided to go to war with Turkey in 1877-1878. After the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. and assassination attempt by D.V. Karakozov on his life On April 4, 1866, the sovereign made concessions to the protective course, which were expressed in the appointment of D.A. Tolstoy, F.F. Trepova, P.A. Shuvalov.
The reforms continued, but rather sluggishly and inconsistently, almost all the leaders of the reforms, with rare exceptions, were dismissed. Towards the end of his reign, the emperor inclined towards the introduction in Russia of limited public representation at the State Council.
Assassination attempts. Death
There were several attempts on the life of Alexander 2: D.V. Karakozov, Polish emigrant A. Berezovsky May 25, 1867 in Paris, A.K. Solovyov April 2, 1879 in St. Petersburg. 1879, August 26 - the executive committee of "Narodnaya Volya" decided to kill the sovereign (an attempt to blow up the emperor's train near Moscow on November 19, 1879, an explosion in the Winter Palace, which was carried out by S.N. Khalturin on February 5, 1880)
To protect the state order and fight against the revolutionary movement, they created the Supreme Administrative Commission. However, this could not prevent his violent death. 1881, March 1 - the sovereign was mortally wounded on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg by a bomb, which was thrown by I.I. Grinevitsky. He was killed just on the day when he decided to set in motion the constitutional project of M.T. Loris-Melikova, telling her sons Alexander (the future emperor) and Vladimir: "I do not hide from myself that we are following the path of the constitution." The great reforms remained unfinished.
Personal life
Men from the Romanov dynasty did not differ in marital fidelity at all, however, Alexander Nikolaevich stood out even among them, constantly changing favorites.
The first time he was married (since 1841) to the Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt Maximilian Wilhelmina August Sophia Maria (in Orthodoxy Maria Alexandrovna, 1824-1880) Children from his first marriage sons: Nicholas, Alexander III, Vladimir, Alexei, Sergei, Pavel ; daughters: Alexandra, Maria.
At the end of the 1870s. an amazing picture emerged: the sovereign lived in two families, not particularly trying to hide this fact. This, of course, was not reported to the subjects, but members of the royal family, high-ranking dignitaries, courtiers knew this very well. Moreover, the emperor even settled the favorite Ekaterina Dolgorukova with her children in the Winter Palace, in separate chambers, but next to her legal wife and children.
After the death of his wife, without waiting for the expiration of a year of mourning, Alexander II entered into (since 1880) a morganatic marriage with Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgoruky (Princess Yuryevskaya), with whom he had been in touch since 1866, from this marriage there were four children. From personal funds, in 1880 he donated 1 million rubles for the construction of a hospital in memory of the late Empress.
Sale of Alaska
What has always been blamed on Alexander Nikolayevich is the sale of Alaska to America. The main claims boiled down to the fact that a rich region that brought furs to Russia, and with more thorough research could become a gold mine, was sold to the United States for some 11 million royal rubles. The truth is that after the Crimean War, Russia simply did not have the resources to develop such a distant region, moreover, the Far East was a priority.
In addition, even during the reign of Nicholas, the governor-general of eastern Siberia, Nikolai Muravyov-Amursky, presented the emperor with a report on the necessary strengthening of ties with the United States, which sooner or later would raise the question of expanding their influence in this region, which was strategically important for America.
The emperor returned to this issue only when the state needed money for reforms. Alexander 2 had a choice - either to solve the pressing problems of people and the state, or to dream about the distant prospect of the possible development of Alaska. The choice turned out to be on the side of topical problems. 1867, March 30 - at four o'clock in the morning Alaska became the property of America.

Alexander was the eldest son of the first grand-ducal, and since 1825 the imperial couple of Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna (daughter of the Prussian monarch Frederick William III). Alexander Nikolaevich received a good education. His mentor, who led the process of upbringing and education, and the teacher of the Russian language was V. A. Zhukovsky, the teacher of the Law of God was the theologian, Archpriest G. Pavsky, the teacher of history and statistics was K. I. Arseniev, the teacher of legislation was M. M. Speransky, finance - E. F. Kankrin, foreign policy - F. I. Brunov, military instructor rum - Captain K. K. Merder and other prominent teachers.

The personality of the future emperor was formed under the influence of his father, who wanted to see a military heir, and at the same time the poet Zhukovsky, who sought to educate an enlightened monarch, a legislator-monarch who carried out reasonable reforms in Russia. Both of these tendencies left a deep imprint on the character of Alexander Nikolaevich.
Having led Russia in 1855, he received a difficult legacy. There was a heavy Crimean War, Russia was internationally isolated. The country faced difficult internal political issues: the Caucasian war continued, it was not resolved peasant question etc. Alexander Nikolaevich was forced to become a reformer tsar. In March 1856, the Peace of Paris was concluded. In the same year, Alexander II secretly concluded a "dual alliance" with Prussia, breaking through the diplomatic isolation of Russia. At the same time, Alexander Nikolayevich made some indulgences in domestic policy: recruiting was suspended for 3 years; benefits were received by the Decembrists, Petrashevists, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831. In 1857, military settlements were abolished. A kind of "thaw" began in the socio-political life of Russia.
Alexander headed for the abolition of serfdom and in 1861 pushed through this decision. Moreover, a milder version of the reform was adopted - it was initially proposed to carry out the “Ostsee version”, with the landless liberation of the peasants. With the support of the emperor, zemstvo and judicial reforms (1864), city reform (1870), military reforms (60-70s), and education reform were carried out. In general, Alexander carried out liberal reforms. Thus, the position of the Jews was alleviated, corporal punishment was abolished, censorship was eased, etc.
During the reign of Alexander Nikolayevich, Russia won decisive victories in the Caucasian War and completed it. The North Caucasus was pacified. The advance of the empire into Central Asia was successfully completed: in 1865-1881. Most of Turkestan became part of Russia. In 1870, Russia, taking advantage of the victory of Prussia over France, was able to mark the article of the Paris Treaty on the neutralization of the Black Sea. Russia won the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Although St. Petersburg, under pressure from the West, had to give up part of the conquests. The Russian Empire returned the southern part of Bessarabia, lost after the Crimean War, and received the Kars region. True, Alexander's government made a strategic mistake - in 1867 the United States sold Alaska, which seriously worsened Russia's position in the Asia-Pacific region.
After the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. and the attempt by D.V. Karakozov on the life of the emperor in April 1866, Alexander II began to listen more to the supporters of the protective course. Grodno, Minsk and Vilna governor-general was appointed "guardian" M. N. Muravyov, he carried out a series of reforms aimed at Russification, restoring the positions of Orthodoxy in the region. The conservatives D. A. Tolstoy, F. F. Trepov, P. A. Shuvalov were appointed to the highest government posts. Many supporters of reforms, with a few exceptions, such as Minister of War Milyutin and Minister of the Interior Loris-Melikov, were removed from power. On the whole, however, the course of reforms was continued, but more cautiously and sluggishly.
At the end of his reign, a project was developed to expand the functions of the State Council and establish a "General Commission" (congress), where it was supposed to introduce representatives from the zemstvos. As a result, autocracy could be limited in favor of bodies with limited representation. The authors of this idea were the Minister of Internal Affairs M. T. Loris-Melikov, the Minister of Finance A. A. Abaza. The emperor shortly before his death approved the project, but they did not have time to discuss it at the council of ministers.
The reforms led to the destabilization of the internal political situation in Russia. The revolutionary underground, represented by the Narodnaya Volya, strengthened its position and headed for the elimination of the tsar. According to the conspirators, the death of the emperor was supposed to cause a revolutionary wave in Russia. On April 4, 1866, Karakozov tried to shoot the tsar, who was walking in the Summer Garden. It should be noted that the security of the head of the Russian state was then organized extremely poorly. On May 25, 1867, in Paris, Alexander was shot by a Polish emigrant, Berezovsky.

On April 2, 1879, when the emperor was walking in the vicinity of the Winter Palace without guards and without companions (!), Solovyov shot Alexander several times. On November 19, 1879, the conspirators blew up the train of the emperor's retinue, mistaking it for the royal one. On February 5, 1880, an explosion was arranged on the ground floor of the Winter Palace. It resulted in numerous casualties.

Dining room of the Winter Palace after the assassination attempt on Alexander II. 1879
Despite all these "calls", only on February 12, 1880, the Supreme Administrative Commission was established to protect state order and fight the revolutionary underground. But it was headed by the liberal-minded Count Loris-Melikov. The result of such a careless attitude to the mortal danger and the activities of the then "fifth column" was obvious and sad.
On the last day of his reign, Alexander Nikolaevich felt tired and lonely. The reforms caused a number of negative processes in the empire. Failures in domestic politics were supplemented by family troubles. After the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, he married Princess E. Yuryevskaya. However, the heir to the throne refused to recognize her. There was tension between father and son.
On Sunday, March 1 (13), in the morning, the sovereign received the Minister of the Interior, Loris-Melikov. He approved his constitutional draft and scheduled a meeting of the Council of Ministers for March 4. I must say that most ministers approved of this plan. When this meeting took place on March 8, already under the chairmanship of Alexander III, the majority of ministers spoke in favor, only Stroganov and Pobedonostsev were against (Alexander III accepted their point of view).
Loris-Melikov asked the tsar not to go to the disengagement of troops that day. Such requests have recently been repeated regularly, the emperor almost stopped visiting the troops. Alexander was indignant: “I would not want my people to consider me a coward!” The Minister of the Interior did not back down and turned to Princess Yuryevskaya, knowing how much Alexander was subject to female influence. She managed to persuade her husband. Divorce trip was cancelled. But Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna appeared at the palace. Her youngest son, the nephew of the sovereign, was to appear before him for the first time at that divorce. Alexander makes a fatal decision.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Alexander Nikolaevich returned to the palace. The imperial carriage was accompanied by Cossacks and the police chief's sleigh. When we left for the Catherine Canal, the carriage shook and was enveloped in smoke. It was N. Rysakov who threw the explosive device. The coachman wanted to leave, but Alexander ordered to stop. Getting out of the carriage, he saw that several Cossacks and passers-by had been injured. Rysakov tried to escape, but was captured. He fought off the onslaught of the crowd, when the king approached and said: "What have you done, crazy?" And also asked his name and rank. Rysakov called himself a tradesman. The chief of police ran up and asked if the sovereign was wounded. “Thank God, no,” Alexander said. Rysakov heard this and angrily said: “Is it still glory to God?” No one understood the hidden meaning of these words.
Alexander Nikolayevich bent over the wounded boy, who had calmed down, crossed him and went to the carriage. Suddenly there was another explosion. It was I. Grinevitsky who threw a second bomb under the sovereign's feet. Both the assassin and the emperor were mortally wounded and died on the same day. The emperor actually lost his legs. “To the palace… To die there…” he whispered in a barely audible voice. About an hour later, at 3:35 pm, Alexander II died in the Winter Palace.
Alexander II Nikolaevich was largely responsible for his own death. No wonder Pobedonostsev said that only pure autocracy can resist the revolution. Alexander shook the Nikolaev empire. Fortunately for Russia, the reins of power after his death were intercepted by the strong hand of Alexander III, who was able to freeze the decay of the empire. At the same time, his reign left a good memory. At the beginning of the 20th century, when Russian peasants were asked which of the historical figures they remember, they also named the Tsar-Liberator.

The future ruler of Russia was born on April 17, 1818 in Moscow. He became the first and only heir to the throne, born in the capital city since 1725. There, on May 5, the baby was baptized in the cathedral of the Chudov Monastery.

The boy received a good education at home. One of his mentors was the poet V. A. Zhukovsky. He told the crowned parents that he would prepare from his pupil not a rude martinet, but a wise and enlightened monarch, so that he would see in Russia not a parade ground and barracks, but a great nation.

The words of the poet were not empty bravado. Both he and other educators did a lot to ensure that the heir to the throne became a truly educated, cultural and progressive thinking person. From the age of 16, the young man began to take part in the administration of the empire. His father introduced him to the Senate, then to the Holy Governing Synod and other higher government bodies. A young man passed by and military service, and quite successfully. During the Crimean War (1853-1856) he commanded the troops stationed in the capital and had the rank of general.

Years of reign of Alexander II (1855-1881)

Domestic politics

Emperor Alexander II, who ascended the throne, inherited a heavy legacy. Numerous foreign and domestic political issues have accumulated. The financial situation of the country was extremely difficult due to the Crimean War. The state, in fact, found itself in isolation, opposing itself to the strongest countries of Europe. Therefore, the first step of the new emperor was the conclusion of the Peace of Paris, signed on March 18, 1856.

The signing was attended by Russia on the one hand and the allied states in the Crimean War on the other. These are France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia and Ottoman Empire. The terms of peace for the Russian Empire turned out to be rather mild. She returned the previously occupied territories to Turkey, and in return she received Kerch, Balaklava, Kamysh and Sevastopol. Thus, the foreign policy blockade was broken.

On August 26, 1856, the coronation took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. In this regard, the highest manifesto was issued. He granted benefits to certain categories of subjects, suspended recruiting for 3 years and abolished military settlements from 1857, which were widely practiced during the reign of Nicholas I.

But the most important thing in the activities of the new emperor was abolition of serfdom. A manifesto about this was announced on February 19, 1861. At that time, there were 23 million serfs out of 62 million people who inhabited the Russian Empire. This reform was not perfect, but it destroyed the existing social order and became a catalyst for other reforms that affected the courts, finances, the army, and education.

The merit of Emperor Alexander II is that he found the strength to suppress the resistance of the opponents of the reforms, which were many nobles and officials. In general, the public opinion of the empire sided with the sovereign. And the court flatterers called him Tsar Liberator. This nickname has taken root among the people.

The country began to discuss the constitutional device. But the question was not about a constitutional monarchy, but only about some limitation of the absolute monarchy. It was planned to expand the State Council and create a General Commission, which would include representatives of the Zemstvos. As for the Parliament, they were not going to create it.

The emperor planned to sign the papers, which were the first step towards a constitution. He announced this on March 1, 1881, during breakfast with Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich. And just a couple of hours later, the sovereign was killed by terrorists. The Russian Empire was once again unlucky.

At the end of January 1863, an uprising began in Poland. At the end of April 1864 it was suppressed. 128 instigators were executed, 800 were sent to hard labor. But these speeches accelerated the peasant reform in Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus.

Foreign policy

Emperor Alexander II conducted foreign policy taking into account the further expansion of the borders of the Russian Empire. The defeat in the Crimean War showed the backwardness and weakness of weapons in the land army and navy. Therefore, a new foreign policy concept was created, which was inextricably linked with technological reforms in the field of weapons. All these issues were supervised by Chancellor A. M. Gorchakov. He was considered an experienced and efficient diplomat and significantly increased the prestige of Russia.

In 1877-1878 the Russian Empire was at war with Turkey. As a result of this military campaign, Bulgaria was liberated. She became an independent state. Huge territories were annexed in Central Asia. The empire also included the North Caucasus, Bessarabia, and the Far East. As a result of all this, the country has become one of the largest in the world.

In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to America (for more details, see Who Sold Alaska to America). Subsequently, this caused a lot of controversy, especially since the price was relatively low. In 1875, the Kuril Islands were transferred to Japan in exchange for the island of Sakhalin. In these matters, Alexander II was guided by the fact that Alaska and the Kuriles are remote, unprofitable lands that are difficult to manage. At the same time, some politicians criticized the emperor for joining Central Asia and the Caucasus. The conquest of these lands cost Russia great human and material losses.

The personal life of Emperor Alexander II was complex and confusing. In 1841 he married Princess Maximilian Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse (1824-1880) of the Hessian dynasty. The bride converted to Orthodoxy in December 1840 and became Maria Alexandrovna, and on April 16, 1841, the wedding took place. The couple have been married for almost 40 years. The wife gave birth to 8 children, but the crowned husband was not faithful. He regularly made mistresses (favorites).

Alexander II with his wife Maria Alexandrovna

The betrayal of her husband and childbirth undermined the health of the empress. She was often ill, and died in the summer of 1880 from tuberculosis. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Less than a year after the death of his wife, the sovereign entered into a morganic marriage with his longtime favorite Ekaterina Dolgoruky (1847-1922). Communication with her began in 1866, when the girl was 19 years old. In 1972, she gave birth to a son from the emperor, named George. Then three more children were born.

It should be noted that Emperor Alexander II was very fond of Dolgoruky and was strongly attached to her. By a special decree, he granted the surname Yuryevsky and the titles of the most serene princes to the children born from her. As for the environment, it disapproved of the morganic marriage with Dolgoruky. The hostility was so strong that after the death of the sovereign, the newly-made wife emigrated from the country with her children and settled in Nice. Catherine died there in 1922.

The years of the reign of Alexander II were marked by several assassination attempts on him (read more in the article Assassination of Alexander II). In 1879, the Narodnaya Volya sentenced the emperor to death. However, fate kept the sovereign for a long time, and the assassination attempts failed. Here it should be noted that the Russian tsar was not distinguished by cowardice and, despite the danger, appeared in in public places either alone or with a small retinue.

But on March 1, 1881, luck changed the autocrat. The terrorists carried out their assassination plan. The assassination attempt was carried out on the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg. The body of the sovereign was mutilated by a thrown bomb. On the same day, Emperor Alexander II died, having had time to take communion. He was buried on March 7 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral next to his first wife Maria Alexandrovna. Alexander III ascended the Russian throne.

Leonid Druzhnikov

from 2nd marriage
sons: St. book. Georgy Aleksandrovich Yuryevsky and Boris
daughters: Olga and Ekaterina
Alexander II Nikolaevich(April 17 (29), Moscow - March 1 (13), St. Petersburg) - Emperor of All Russia, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland -. From the Romanov dynasty.

Origin

Alexander II is the eldest son, first of the Grand Duke, and since 1825 of the Imperial couple, Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna.

Nikolai Pavlovich was the third son of Emperor Paul I. Alexandra Feodorovna - daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William III, before chrismation - Princess Charlotte. She was the niece and goddaughter of the English Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, and, therefore, a relative of the future reigning Queen of England - Victoria.

Childhood, education and upbringing

According to numerous testimonies, in his youth he was very impressionable and amorous. So, during a trip to London, he had a fleeting crush on the young Queen Victoria.

Beginning of state activity

Upon reaching the age of majority on April 22 (the day he took the oath), the heir-prince was introduced by his father to the main state institutions of the empire: in the Senate, in the Holy Governing Synod, with a member of the State Council, in - the Committee of Ministers.

The military service of the future emperor was quite successful. In 1836, he had already become a major general, from 1844 a full general, commanded the guards infantry. Since 1849, Alexander was the head of military educational institutions, chairman of the Secret Committees for Peasant Affairs and years. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, with the announcement of the St. Petersburg province under martial law, he commanded all the troops of the capital.

Reign of Alexander II

Grand Title

By God's hastening mercy, We, Alexander II, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kyiv, Vladimir, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Chersonis, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuanian, Volyn, Podolsk and Finland, Prince of Estland , Liflyandsky, Kurlyandsky and Semigalsky, Samogitsky, Belostoksky, Korelsky, Tversky, Yugorsky, Permsky, Vyatsky, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novgorod Nizovsky land, Chernigov. Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Beloozersk, Udora, Obdorsk, Kondi, Vitebsk, Mstislav and all Northern countries, Lord and Sovereign of Iver. Kartalinsky, Georgian and Kabardian lands and Armenian regions, Cherkasy and Mountain Princes and other hereditary Sovereign and Possessor, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarsen and Oldenburg and others, and others, and others.

Beginning of the reign

In his life, Alexander did not adhere to any specific concept in his views on the history of Russia and the tasks of state administration. Having ascended the throne in 1855, he received a difficult legacy. None of the issues of the 30-year reign of his father (peasant, eastern, Polish, etc.) was resolved; Russia was defeated in the Crimean War.

Emperors of all Russia,
Romanovs
Holstein-Gottorp branch (after Peter III)

Pavel I
Maria Fedorovna

Nicholas I
Alexandra Fedorovna

Alexander II
Maria Alexandrovna

The first of his important decisions was the conclusion of the Peace of Paris in March 1856. A “thaw” began in the socio-political life of the country. On the occasion of the coronation in August 1856, he announced an amnesty for the Decembrists, Petrashevites, participants in the Polish uprising of 1830-1831, suspended recruiting for 3 years, and in 1857 liquidated military settlements.

Abolition of serfdom

Alexander II

Peasant reform in Russia, also known as abolition of serfdom- the reform carried out in 1861, which abolished serfdom in the Russian Empire.

The first steps towards the abolition of serfdom were made by Alexander I in 1803 by signing the Decree on free cultivators, which spelled out the legal status of peasants released into the wild.

In the Baltic (Ostsee) provinces of the Russian Empire (Estland, Courland, Livonia), serfdom was abolished back in the years.

Alexander II

Contrary to the existing erroneous opinion that the vast majority of the population of pre-reform Russia was serfdom, in reality the percentage of serfs to the entire population of the empire remained almost unchanged at 45% from the second revision to the eighth (that is, from to), and to the 10th revision ( ) this share fell to 37%. According to the population census, 23.1 million people (of both sexes) out of 62.5 million people who inhabited the Russian Empire were in serfdom. Of the 65 provinces and regions that existed in the Russian Empire in 1858, in the three above-mentioned Baltic provinces, in the Land of the Black Sea Host, in the Primorsky Region, the Semipalatinsk Region and the region of the Siberian Kirghiz, in the Derbent Governorate (with the Caspian Territory) and the Erivan Governorate, there were no serfs at all; in 4 more administrative units (Arkhangelsk and Shemakha provinces, Transbaikal and Yakutsk regions) there were no serfs either, with the exception of a few dozen courtyard people (servants). In the remaining 52 provinces and regions, the proportion of serfs in the population ranged from 1.17% (Bessarabian region) to 69.07% (Smolensk province).

The main provisions of the peasant reform

The main act - "The General Regulations on Peasants Who Have Emerged from Serfdom" - contained the main conditions for the peasant reform:

peasants received personal freedom and the right to freely dispose of their property;

the landlords retained ownership of all the lands that belonged to them, but they were obliged to provide the peasants with "estate estates" and a field allotment for use;

for the use of allotment land, the peasants had to serve a corvee or pay dues and did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years;

the size of the field allotment and duties were to be fixed in charter letters of 1861, which were drawn up by the landowners for each estate and verified by amicable mediators;

the peasants were given the right to buy out the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, the field plot, before this they were called temporarily liable peasants;

the structure, rights and obligations of the bodies of peasant public administration (village and volost) and the volost court were also determined.

Four "Local Regulations" determined the size of land plots and duties for their use in 44 provinces of European Russia. From the land that was in the use of the peasants before February 19, 1861, cuts could be made if the per capita allotments of the peasants exceeded the highest size established for the given locality, or if the landowners, while maintaining the existing peasant allotment, had less than 1/3 of the entire land of the estate.

Allotments could be reduced by special agreements between peasants and landlords, as well as upon receipt of a donation. If the peasants had plots of less than the lowest size in use, the landowner was obliged either to cut the missing land, or to reduce duties. For the highest shower allotment, a quitrent was set from 8 to 12 rubles. per year or corvee - 40 male and 30 female working days per year. If the allotment was less than the highest, then the duties decreased, but not proportionally. The rest of the "Local provisions" basically repeated the "Great Russian", but taking into account the specifics of their regions. Features of the Peasant Reform for certain categories of peasants and specific areas were determined " Additional rules"-" On the arrangement of peasants settled on the estates of small landowners, and on the allowance for these owners, "On the people assigned to private mining plants of the Department of the Ministry of Finance", "On peasants and workers serving work at Perm private mining plants and salt mines" , “About peasants serving work in landlord factories”, “About peasants and courtyards in the Land of the Don Cossacks”, “About peasants and courtyards in the Stavropol province”, “About peasants and courtyards in Siberia”, “About people who left from serfdom in the Bessarabian region.

The “Regulations on the arrangement of courtyard people” provided for their release without land, but for 2 years they remained completely dependent on the landowner.

The “Regulations on Redemption” determined the procedure for the redemption of land by peasants from landlords, the organization of the redemption operation, the rights and obligations of peasant owners. The redemption of the field plot depended on an agreement with the landowner, who could oblige the peasants to redeem the land at their request. The price of land was determined by quitrent, capitalized from 6% per annum. In the event of a ransom under a voluntary agreement, the peasants had to make an additional payment to the landowner. The landlord received the main amount from the state, to which the peasants had to repay it for 49 years annually in redemption payments.

"Manifesto" and "Regulations" were promulgated from March 7 to April 2 (in St. Petersburg and Moscow - March 5). Fearing dissatisfaction of the peasants with the terms of the reform, the government took a number of precautionary measures (redeployment of troops, secondment of the imperial retinue to the places, appeal of the Synod, etc.). The peasantry, dissatisfied with the enslaving conditions of the reform, responded to it with mass unrest. The largest of them were the Bezdnensky performance of 1861 and the Kandeev performance of 1861.

The implementation of the Peasant Reform began with the drafting of charters, which was basically completed by the middle of 1863. On January 1, 1863, the peasants refused to sign about 60% of the letters. The price of land for redemption significantly exceeded its market value at that time, in some areas by 2-3 times. As a result of this, in a number of districts they were extremely striving to receive donation allotments, and in some provinces (Saratov, Samara, Yekaterinoslav, Voronezh, etc.), a significant number of peasants-gifts appeared.

The reforms continued, but sluggishly and inconsistently, almost all the leaders of the reforms, with rare exceptions, were resigned. At the end of his reign, Alexander inclined towards the introduction in Russia of limited public representation at the State Council.

Assassination attempts and murder

Several assassination attempts were made on Alexander II:

April 4, 1866, when Alexander II was heading from the gates of the Summer Garden to his carriage, a shot rang out. The bullet flew over the head of the emperor - the shooter was pushed by the peasant Osip Komissarov, who was standing nearby. The crowd almost tore apart a young man in a dark coat. The gendarmes, who forcibly recaptured the nobleman Dmitry Karakozov from the crowd, brought him to the tsar. "You're polish?" Alexander asked him. - "No, pure Russian."

The results of the reign

Alexander II went down in history as a reformer and liberator.

In his reign, serfdom was abolished, general military service was introduced, zemstvos were established, judicial reform was carried out, censorship was limited, autonomy was granted to the Caucasian highlanders (which to a large extent contributed to the cessation of the Caucasian war), and a number of other reforms were carried out.

The negative side usually includes the unfavorable for Russia results of the Berlin Congress, exorbitant expenses in the war of 1877-1878, numerous peasant uprisings (in 1861-1863, more than 1150 speeches), large-scale nationalist uprisings in the kingdom of Poland and the North-Western Territory ( ) and in the Caucasus (1877-1878).

A family

First marriage () with Maria Alexandrovna (07/1/1824 - 05/22/1880), nee Princess Maximilian-Wilhelmina-August-Sophia-Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt.

The second, morganatic, marriage to an old (s) mistress, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (-), who received the title Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.

As of March 1, 1881, the personal capital of Alexander II was about 12 million rubles. (securities, tickets of the State Bank, shares of railway companies); from personal funds, he donated 1 million rubles in 1880. on the construction of a hospital in memory of the Empress.

Children from first marriage:

Alexandra (1842-1849);

Nicholas (1843-1865), brought up as heir to the throne, died of pneumonia in Nice;

Alexander III (1845-1894) - Emperor of Russia in 1881-1894;

Vladimir (1847-1909);

Alexey (1850-1908);

Maria (1853-1920), Grand Duchess, Duchess of Great Britain and Germany;

Sergei (1857-1905);

Pavel (1860-1919).

Children from a morganatic marriage:

His Serene Highness Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872-1913), married to Countess Alexandra von Zarnekau (1883-1957), daughter of Prince Konstantin of Oldenburg from a morganatic marriage;

Olga Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1873-1925), married to Georg-Nicholas von Merenberg (1871-1948), son of Natalya Pushkina;

Boris Alexandrovich (1876-1876), posthumously legalized with the assignment of the surname "Yurievsky";

Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yuryevskaya (1878-1959), married to Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky, and after - to the prince